Nokia X review: This isn't the Nokia Android phone you were looking for
Rumors of Nokia making an
Android smartphone had been churning for a long time. Finally, at Mobile
World Congress in March, the Finnish company unveiled a new range of
phones, the X, X+ and XL , aimed at those who can't afford hundreds of dollars or pounds on a new mobile.
Running on a forked version of Android
, the X range of devices lack Google Play services, which Nokia has
ignored, choosing to feature Microsoft's products instead. While this
seems like a good idea on paper, Android doesn't really stand up too well without the Google foundations -- but more on that later.
Furthermore, as these are cheap smartphones meant for emerging markets
(taking over from the previous Asha range of phones), Nokia has chosen
to go with low-end specs, which impacts the performance and user
experience.
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The Nokia X is cheap but colorful.
Aloysius Low/CNET
Design
Nokia is best known for the build quality of its smartphones, and the
Nokia X isn't any different. Despite a low retail price of around $140
(€89 in Europe and around £100 in the UK), the phone feels solid and
well-made. The 128g device sits quite comfortably in one's palm.
The phone sports a 4-inch display with a resolution of 800x480 pixels,
and instead of the three menu buttons found on most Android devices, the
Nokia X only has one, which lets you go back. To get back to the home
screen, you press and hold it.
The rear cover is removable,
swappable for different colors, and sports a matte finish. You'll need
to open up the back to access the dual-SIM card slots which is located
next to the 1,500mAh battery.
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The rear cover is removable.
Aloysius Low/CNET
Features
As a low-cost smartphone, the Nokia X doesn't come with the bells and
whistles you'll find on more expensive phones. What you get are the
basics: Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity.
The X comes with just 4GB of onboard storage, but don't let that stop
you -- Nokia has chosen to include a microSD card slot. This gives you
an additional 32GB of storage, should you need it.
Software
Powered by the Nokia X platform, the operating system is what's known
as a "forked" version of Android. It's based on Google's code, but the
interface is all Nokia -- and it doesn't come with any Google apps. (You
can install them if you "root" the device, but that will void the
warranty.) Instead, what you get is a mix and match of Nokia apps as
well as some tweaks to allow Microsoft's Bing search engine into the
picture.
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It looks similar to Windows Phone, but it isn't nearly as slick.
Screenshot by Aloysius Low/CNET
While this may sound like a fine idea in theory, Google has made its
services a very large part of the Android ecosystem, and because of
that, the Nokia X feels lacking. For a start, if you've already made
purchases on the Google Play store on your old phone, these aren't
transferrable.
This is point is moot if you're a new smartphone
user, but you're still missing out on the sheer number of available apps
in the Google Play store. Popular messaging app WhatsApp wasn't
available on the Nokia Store, for example, so I had to download a
third-party app store called 1MobileMarket and install it from there
instead.
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You'll need to venture outside of the Nokia Store if you want apps such as WhatsApp.
Screenshot by Aloysius Low/CNET
The lack of Google support also means you won't readily be importing
your contacts from your Gmail account. In my case I manually downloaded
my address book as a vCard. The Nokia X didn't recognise the country
codes in front of the phone numbers, however, so incoming calls and
messages won't show contact details.
As for the UI, it's still the same Windows Phone lookalike from when it was announced at Mobile World Congress, and unlike the more usable Microsoft mobile operating system, the Nokia X is confusing.
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